Lee Da Som's Debate Essay

Nowadays, nationalism prevails in Korea and the world. So there are many resulting problems. I think nationalism is a mere obsession, stubbornness in our unconsciousness.

Of course, nationalism advocates say that nationalism can strengthen solidarity. They also say nationalism brings big power and enthusiasm in the World Cup or other big games, which make us unite and feel patriotism. Also, advocates insist that they feel comfortable and glad when meeting the same family (race, tribe) in other country. Eventually, they think nationalism is good for people's emotions and for unification.

In my opinion, however, these are only special cases (World Cup, Olympics, meeting same family...). In everyday life, we still discriminate foreign workers due to our 'single-unity' nationalism. And similarly, people are locked in limited point of view, which can lead to intolerance of others as we can see in Jaebum's case. Also, in an extreme case, Nazis and Hitler killed millions of Jewish people cruelly, only because he thought his race is superior to Jewish people.

For these reasons, I think nationalism is never good for us. We have to break this stereotype. It is better to be a world citizen instead of locked in nationalism.

Lee Da Som's Opinion Essay

Schooling for Teen Mothers

Nowadays, many teen girls become mothers. Usually they are 15~19 years old. Although they aren't kids, they are not adults. So their job ability, maturity and sense of economy are considerably less than adult mothers.

But our government and school authorities try to kick teen mothers out instead of developing their ability, mental maturity and childcare methods.

I think it comes from Korean's conventional shamefulness and avoidance of sex or premarital pregnancy which derives from deep-rooted Confucianism.

But a school's essential goal is to educate students so that they can become mature human beings and do well in the larger society. So it's a violation of education's goal to kick teen mothers out of school. Because every student's essential rights and life are most important, school authorities have to break conventional stereotypes. We need to accept some changes in social perception in a positive way.

So, practically, we need to establish schools for teen mothers which teachers job ability and nurturing. Or it's also good to make nurseries in high school like other developed countries. Of course, childcare allowance for teen mothers should be increased. Most of all, teachers have to try to not to discriminate against teen mothers in school.

Now it's time for Korea to become a socially-developed country. Social welfare can be improved with a change of perception. I don't want to see tears on teen mothers any more.

Lee Da Som's Narrative Essay

I want to talk about my most shameful but lesson-learning story. It's about my cheating story.

It was 2 months ago, I think. I was memorizing words for a paper test. Terribly, I was so lazy that I opened the word list for the first time at that moment. But it was so difficult to memorize in a short time. I screamed, and my classmates also grumbled and groaned. Eventually, everyone in the classroom felt sympathy. So, we united for the first time. Since out homeroom teacher wasn’t there, we freely discussed our plan. After that, we started a combined operation. All of the classroom students started to write down the English words on the desk, and piled many books and calenders around to shield.

The classroom was silent. All of the student's senses were on the strain. But on the other hand, we felt somewhat... a sense of relief. We thought that we could get a good grade. While writing the words on the desk or little paper, I said "What if.... if teacher L comes in instead of our homeroom teacher?" (Teacher L is very strict and thorough. If she comes here to supervise us, we can't cheat at all.) Suddenly, my friends squealed and blamed me. They said "Shut up!!" or "Don't jinx things!!". We laughed, cause we knew that scenario was almost impossible. And after 30 minutes, we all finished. Our plan was excellent. The bell rang at 4:30. It was silent. We heard someone walk toward our classroom. We could see the silhouette. But.... it wasn't our H.R teacher. Door was opened.

"Hey students! Let's start! Put away your books and come apart!"

The other students and I were shocked. All hope was gone. She was teacher L .

I was vacant. We just looked each others faces. "What are you doing?" teacher L shouted. It was unavoidable. We put away everything, and the paper test was started. I took the exam in a state of ignorance.

The result was terrible. I got only 60. I said to my friends "I had least expected that things would come to such a pass. I think we got heaven's justice."

From this event, I learned a lesson which is very simple but I had forgotten. It is that there is nothing to achieve with tricks or without effort. I realized the importance of sincere effort and an honest attitude of mind. Of course, I can accomplish something with tricks. But now I know that it's not blessing or luck. It's just foreshadowing of retribution.

Lee Da Som's Self-Introduction

Self Introduction

Hello! My name is Lee Da Som. I was born in Gwangju on April 19th. I live with my mom and dad, and a brother seven years younger than me. I lived in Gwangju for 16 years until middle school. I chose to go to Naju High School, so now I live in the dormitory.

When I became a high school student, pizza and chicken became my best friends. And now they are my soul mates.

Sometimes my friends call me enfant-terrible or devil, cause I'm so mischievous and wild. I also think I'm addicted to making fun of my friends. I think I have to be more prudent, gentle and mild because I'm 19 now.

From now, let me introduce my hobby and goal. My hobby is taking pictures--especially nature scenery. It makes me feel calmed down and makes me breathe in this dreary, tight high school schedule. I also love going outside and being exposed to wind when I'm tired or bored. I feel freedom from cool wind blowing that moment. As I love nature and relief, my dream is also simple and naturalistic. I want to be a country-side school English teacher. And after class, I want to enjoy my life by taking pictures of beautiful nature scenery.

So.. what I want to say is that my ideal life style is to take a rest and find myself in peaceful nature. Thank you for reading my self introduction.